Washington, D.C.
A politicized response: The Trump administration made “deliberate efforts to undermine the nation’s coronavirus response for political purposes,” the House select subcommittee investigating the pandemic concluded in a report last week. The Democrat-led panel described “staggering” acts of political interference to boost Trump’s re-election campaign, many of them targeting the Centers for Disease Control. After a CDC official publicly warned of an emerging respiratory virus on Feb. 25, 2020, Trump threatened to fire her and the White House refused to authorize subsequent CDC briefings for months. That April, the White House rejected a CDC request to hold a briefing on the benefits of masks. Instead, Trump himself told the public, “You don’t have to do it. I’m choosing not to.” Trump officials also changed a CDC advisory in August to discourage asymptomatic people from getting tested, even after a known exposure.
Dr. Jay Butler, the CDC’s deputy director for infectious diseases, told the committee he was directed to give “softened” guidance to religious communities, avoiding recommendations for masks or remote services. “I was doing a lot of soul-searching about whether or not I should have agreed,” Butler told Congress. Dr. Deborah Birx, the Trump White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, said that had her pleas on masks and vaccines been heeded by all 50 states, Covid fatalities could have been reduced by up to 40 percent. Dr. Francis Collins, outgoing director of the National Institutes of Health, said he resisted pressure from Republicans to endorse unproven treatments like hydroxychloroquine, and to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, whom he called “the greatest expert in infectious disease that the world has known.”